New York Today: An Old-Fashioned Halloween

Better keep your wits about you. It's scary out there.Credit
Christian Hansen for The New York Times

Updated at 10:30 a.m.

Good morning on this crisp Friday.

The Times lamented the decline of Halloween, the lack of its scariness and authenticity, even back in 1876.

“The glory of this once popular festival has departed,” the reporter grieved.

“Its triumph and rough jollities, festivals and strange rites are a matter of history, and live only in the immortal verse of Burns and traditional lore.”

Today, candy, more candy, provocative costumes and flimsy (yet sometimes terrifying) decorations are the common aspects of modern-day Halloween.

But some in New York still celebrate the old-fashioned way: that is, with contact with the occult.

Starr Ravenhawk, an elder and founder of the New York City Wiccan Family Temple, said that her group on Halloween welcomed the spirits of departed loved ones. The holiday, which they call Samhain, is also New Year’s for witches.

They invite back the spirits of ancestors and others they love, but it’s somewhat exclusive: “At this time of year, spirits are all about anyway, which is why everyone celebrates, but we don’t want to invite just anyone helter-skelter.

If you’re making mischief on Saturday night, chances are you’re not running in the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

The race, one of the world’s biggest and most elite marathons, always falls on the first Sunday in November.

More than 50,000 runners are expected to compete this year, wending their way through the five boroughs.

The race begins with a few steps on Staten Island before runners cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn. Then, they head north through the borough into Queens, cross the Queensboro Bridge, and jog up First Avenue.

From there, they’ll cross into the Bronx, before turning back toward Manhattan, entering Central Park and triumphantly crossing the finish line at Tavern on the Green.